Gaelic Storm to perform at Lowell Summer Music Series

On Friday August 24th at 7:30 pm, Gaelic Storm will be performing as a part of the Lowell Summer Music Series at Boarding House Park on 40 French St Lowell, MA.

After a start playing monthly gigs for friends at Santa Monica's O'Brien's Tavern in 1995, the band's popularity skyrocketed when it appeared in James Cameron's Titanic as the Celtic party band in the ship's steerage. Unlike so many other bands that were unable to sustain a career after receiving near-blinding initial exposure, Gaelic Storm has amassed a large, loyal and ever-growing following.

According to band guitarist-singer Steve Twigger, "We are first and foremost a live band. We got together to play music. To enjoy ourselves and enjoy being out with the audience. As the world has gotten darker, people have come and found us as a means to escape."

The band takes a distinct pride in the fact that its music and performances are a celebration of Irish culture as well as a medium of connection for many of the 36 million Irish-Americans who have at least some Irish blood in them. "I brought a few friends over from Ireland for the Irish Festival in Milwaukee," band singer Patrick Murphy recalls with a chuckle, "and after three days of seeing people with elaborate Celtic knot tattoos and Irish flags on their shoulders, these guys were in shock about the amount Irish pride people displayed here in America."

Yet while Gaelic Storm plays Celtic music that hearkens back to the traditional music of Ireland, they are hardly traditionalists, adding modern sounds and drawing influences from American rock and pop as well as music styles from around the world. This is a band with its feet firmly planted in the present, appearing on two EA Sports Games and their song "Kiss Me I'm Irish" has been used in a Hallmark greeting card since 2008. The band has made countless television and radio appearances, and there are official videos and heaps of fan-posted live YouTube clips (often with the crowd singing as loud as the band).

Speaking with the band, there's talk about good times for both the band and its fans at the concerts and after, but the true foundation of what keeps Gaelic Storm going is the ongoing comradeship amongst the group. "We made a promise to each other that the day we stop having fun, we stop," Murphy says. "If it becomes work or a hassle, just stop. And at the end of every year we look back and go, "Wow, that was a great year." We just keep looking forward to the next year because each year it gets better and better."

Gaelic Storm steps back into the ring with Chicken Boxer, their ninth album and fifth independent release on their own label Lost Again Records. Following two consecutive #1 albums on the Billboard World Music Chart, Chicken Boxer showcases the incomparable songwriting and accomplished musicianship of a band that has made their mark bringing fans to their feet two hundred days per year. With their signature acoustic production, Gaelic Storm blends indie-folk and world grooves with Celtic tradition to serve up a ringside seat for fifteen rounds of pugilistic poultry pounding sound.Tickets are available in advance for $18 or $25 on the day of the concert. Find more info at http://www.gaelicstorm.com.